$%&@$ Identity thieves!

Some hacker was able to forge a physical duplicate of my wife's debit card. They went on a little shopping spree down in California, swiping the card at point-of-purchase outlets where no PIN was required. They emptied out our checking account, and then maxed out our overdraft protection credit line before the bank froze the account and called my wife at work to inquire how it was that 2 identical cards were being swiped on the same day 1000 miles apart. They got us for about $1800. Fortunately, that was the balance in our account after we had just paid about $5K in first-of-the-month bills, mortgage etc. so nothing bounced; if they had hit us 1 or 2 days earlier we would have had a cascade of bounced checks to deal with, and the thieves would have gotten a lot more money. We filed a fraud claim with the bank as well as police report with NPD, and found out that others who dined at a local restraunt and paid with debit cards were reporting similar problems. Someone probably put a "skimmer" on the card reader. Its is frightening and stressful to go thru something like this. The bank is processing our claim and said that we will probably be made whole in 7-10 days. My heart goes out to other, low-income victims for whom the complete draining of their checking account for a week or more would be financially devastating. For us, this has boiled down to the hassle of my wife spending 3-4 hours on the phone, filling out forms, and transferring funds from savings. We can use other credit cards until matters get sorted out, our bills are still being paid and we will eat and be OK.

I am glad you posted this,
I had no idea that debit card could be used to drain your account, I will continue to not use the damn thing. No wonder every damn bank I enter wants my debit card. That way it's on the consumer & the bank who can ill afford to lose a little money for a couple of days, won't hafta be responsible for the security which is obviously low on the atm/debit cards they use, which makes me think the whole damn thing is their fault

Unfortunately as far as finding the person & doing the asskicking,
Far as I could gather the last time I was defrauded (someone hacked my paypal account) I was the only person who did give a damn. The police certainly didn't care & I had evidence of who it was, as he had bought a gun from me & then got mad cause I charged a restocking fee after it was discovered that he was an illegal from asia & was not allowed to own a gun. Anyhow I wondered if the police are giving you any signs that they are searching for a person to prosecute?

Have you spoken to management, What restaurant? Sounds like an inside job.

Click to expand...

We are letting the police deal with it. NPD called the store in CA where the point-of-purchase took place and is investigating. As far as the restraunt goes, it could be an inside job or they could also be victims of some sort of hacking. It would be premature to blame them or anyone else without more facts.

This is why I use a credit card instead of a debit card. My liability is usually $50 at most with a credit card, but with debit cards, the bank isn't usually required to do anything about it, though that may have changed more recently. Last I checked was about 6-8 years ago.

When it happened to us we knew what they looked, like where they lived, What they drove and when we brought all the info to the bank they did not care. They stated they would not pursue it. I ask if we could and they said yes but they would get the money from it. So I figured I was not going to work for the bank for free so I dropped the issue.

Then they had the nuts to call back a month later and find out if we recovered any money. Ilaughedd at them and told them I dont work for free. If they want the money after I already found out who it was they can go after them. Why should I care if they are not worried about it.

NEVER, repeat NEVER use a debit card. Use only a credit card or cash. There are very few protections for debit cards.

Moreover, retail stores are not keeping their software current for point-of-sale (POS) systems. They can be out of date and at risk of attack. Even worse, the underlying software may be so stupidly designed that it retains your complete debit-card information for far too long.

Not trying to be a jerk...but there is an ongoing criminal investigation.I dont want to screw that investigation up and I dont want to blast their name out on a public forum when they may also be crime victims themselves. It will be appropriate to name the restaurant after the police have done whatever it is they need to do. All I know is that the police officer who took the report from my wife specifically asked if we had eaten there and said that other diners had also had issues involving debit cards.

I have ZERO faith in the police departments and stores, store employees when it comes to hijacking cards whether from a skimmer or if they are stolen.

I had my wallet stolen from an apartment while working in Maryland. Thieves went to a local gas station, bought gas. I had the exact time they swiped the card, gave the info to the police. Hell I even went to the store to see if they would let me have the surveillance footage. That station had more cameras than a federal building. Nothing came of it.

Though I did get my money returned from OSU Federal when I went through their hoops. I drove across country from Maryland to Oregon without ANY form of ID. I couldn't fly, had to drive.

So hopefully the NPD does right on this and actually pursues it (doubtful).

Unfortunately it seems as though the police stand zero chance to make a profit by stopping any of the fastest growing crime, identity theft at least if you were speeding they could ticket you for that. In my case the perps current address was known but the system doesn't give a damn

Unfortunately it seems as though the police stand zero chance to make a profit by stopping any of the fastest growing crime, identity theft at least if you were speeding they could ticket you for that. In my case the perps current address was known but the system doesn't give a damn

One proactive thing people can do is get a account setup with Equifax and through them lock down your credit file information through the big three credit agencies. You leave your report locked all the time. If you are applying for credit you login and release the lock for say 48 hours.

OT, a note about debt -

That said, it is best to lead a completely debt free life. If you need credit cards from the banksters pay them off in full monthly. If you need to drive a $1000 car and live in a shack to be debt free than do it. Debt has already killed this nation; don't let it do the same to you. Having no LT debt is one of the greatest feelings in the world. It can be done. If you have CC debt, come to terms with the slavery that is being thrust upon you. A scumbag bank is getting free/1% money, created out of thin air, and then they have the gall to charge you 21%, fees, charges. Tony Soprano has nothing on them. If Americans were not so deluded they riot tomorrow.

You may want to sign up for a monitoring service like LifeLock for a couple months just to keep an eye on things (new account applications, credit scores, etc.). I think they have a 30-day free trial and a discount for NRA members.

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